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Touch N' Feel Box
Category:Developed for first grade Touch N' Feel Box Student worthiness This activity is fun, interactive, and easy to put together. It also encourages students to use senses other than sight to record observations. * Is it tried and trusted or brand new and untested???/ Primary biological content area covered *Scientific questioning *Observation Materials *Several boxes (shoe box size or slightly larger) MUST BE ABLE TO CLOSE COMPLETELY OR HAVE A COVER *1 square yard of stretchy, dark colored, spandex-like material/fabric *Various objects such as: a pine cone, apple, baseball, marker, hackie sack, flower, sea shell, sock, cooked spaghetti, grapes or a bunch of straws tied together. * Black paint (to paint the inside of the boxes) Description of activity In preparation of this lesson, the instructor should paint the inside of the boxes black and cut a hole in the box big enough for a student's hand to fit through. The hole may be made on the end, front or top cover. After the hole is formed, cut the stretchy fabric into a square that can go outside the box and cover the hole. Then cut a slit in the fabric big enough to fit a hand through (The slit in the stretchy material will allow it to close again after the hand is removed). Glue and staple or duct tape the fabric around the outside of the hole so students cannot look through the hole and see the object. This fabric is meant to be a blockade but must still be flexible enough to let a hand pass through. Place an object inside the box and close the cover. Now, students are ready to use the box. They should take turns feeling around inside the box and guessing what is inside. Lesson plan # Put an object into the box. # Have one child at a time put their hand in the box and feel the object. # Have the child describe what the object feels like. # Record their adjectives and descriptions on a flip chart. # Have each child guess what the object is. # Write the children's guesses on a flip chart. # Once all of the children have generally agreed on the object inside the box, place different variations of the object on the table for them to see. For example, if there are fake rose flowers in each box, place several different types of fake flowers on the table in front of them. # Have the children feel each of the objects on the table and pick out which one is hidden inside the box. This should be based purely on their sense of touch. # Open up the box to see if they are right. # Discuss some of the similar characteristics among what the students thought they felt in the box. Potential pitfalls Be sure that the objects used in the boxes are not going to be harmful to the students (i.e. sharp, allergies). Make sure the boxes are sealed completely and the students can't see inside the box. Art connections The students could draw what they feel and make a sketch of the object before they lift the top and see if they are right. This will allow them to see how close they were. Math connections Students classify objects and further identify the exact object in their box which involves looking at proportions through touch, similarities and differences and comparisons of size of the objects. Literature connections "Me and My Senses" by Joan Sweeney teaches about senses and is an excellent source for emergent readers to learn about the body. "Touch" by Patricia J. Murphy discusses the sense of touch through skin, which is the largest organ in our bodies. English connections The students will be using adjectives to describe the objects. These adjectives could be added to an already existing word wall or start a word wall. Connections to educational standards S1-2:1 Students demonstrate their understanding of SCIENTIFIC QUESTIONING by… • Posing observational questions that compare things in terms of number, shape, texture, size, weight, color, motion, etc. (e.g., How fast does a Lady Beetle move compared to a Bess Beetle?). AND • Investigating and completing questions to identify a variable that can be changed (e.g., What will happen if…? or I wonder if I change…?). AND • Generating new questions that could be exp lored at the end of an investigation. S1-2:4 Students demonstrate their ability to CONDUCT EXPERIMENTS by… • Referring to and following a simple plan for an investigation. AND • Describing observations using senses rather than feelings (e.g., The snail has a hard shell with wavy, brown lines, rather than the snail is awesome). AND • Recording observations of similarities and differences. AND • Drawing scientifically: a. Recording relative proportion (e.g., Eyes are approximately the right size when compared to the head) including focus on finer details, and differentiating all parts observed. b. Labeling significant aspects of a scientific drawing or diagram with words provided, c. Creating a title for a scientific drawing or diagram. • Recording data (in a table provided by the teacher) generated from the use of simple science equipment , as well as nonstandard and standard measurement tools. Next steps This activity could be used as part of a unit about the senses. Citations and links Taken from: Charles Gutierrez's idea at http://www.youth.net/cec/cecsci/cecsci.153.txt Vermont State Grade Expectations can be found at the State of Vermont Department of Education website. http://education.vermont.gov/new/html/pubs/framework.html